We are planning our 3 homebirth with #5. My first was a birth center water birth, 2nd was a home water birth, 3 hospital land birth, and 4th was a home water birth. After experiencing the land hospital birth, something would really REALLY have to be going wrong for me to go to the hospital. We have already hired a midwife and have our first appointment on Thursday!! I'm so excited.

For the question about the older children being present....We had our children at our homebirths. The oldest was just 5 and the youngest 18 months at the last birth and they were great and very interested. The thing is, birth should be taught as a normal, natural thing. I feel it's great for them to experience it as apposed to a baby just showing up and them not knowing how it got there! It was fun to involve them too. Helping to dress the baby for the first time, tell everyone the sex of the baby, cut the cord! I wouldn't have it any other way! My children are now 8, 7, 5, and will be 4 when this baby comes and they are so excited! I hope we have a day time baby so they aren't sleeping and can experience all of it!

Hoping for a home birth. I want to be so far away from a hospital it isn't funny! I considered a center birth but I kind of find that ridiculous. I'm not sure I want to show up for a few hours to do something I could do at home. As far as a midwife is concerned I want this without anyone but my family. My sister is coming and my Mother is an OB nurse. My daughters haven't decided yet if they want to be there but they have the option. I hope they do, all of us women together to bring out the next piece of our family. DH is very excited about the possiblity of it being this way. Here's to hoping!

I'm excited to be planning my VBAC home birth. I spent 8 months preparing for a home birth last time, and when my DD was breech -- all my plans went out the window! So I'm not a first-time mom, but I will be a first-time vaginal birther, and I'm hoping to do it here at home. I'm nervous and thrilled about it. :)

I had a homebirth with DS 3 years ago. This time around I'm planning a home waterbirth as.

I've chosen a MW that also has a freestanding birth center becuase I'm not entirely comfortable in the apartment which we're living in now. Every fiber in my being is aching for a home waterbnirth with #2, but I

m not sure I c an be comfortable enough here to birth. has anyone gone froma homebirth to a birth center birth? Did you regret your decision, do you wish you would have just stayed home?

Birth Doula and Owner of an online natural baby boutique. Aspiring to be a Midwife.

My last baby was born at another home other then my own. It wasn't actually a birth center, but it was were my midwife could deliver. That was after having two home births. I'm glad I was able to use that midwife for that birth because my only other options were hospital or uc. We were not up for a uc. It worked out, but I missed being able to stay at home. This time around there is a new midwife in the area that will be coming to my house. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rin

I had a homebirth with DS 3 years ago. This time around I'm planning a home waterbirth as.

I've chosen a MW that also has a freestanding birth center becuase I'm not entirely comfortable in the apartment which we're living in now. Every fiber in my being is aching for a home waterbnirth with #2, but I

m not sure I c an be comfortable enough here to birth. has anyone gone froma homebirth to a birth center birth? Did you regret your decision, do you wish you would have just stayed home?

I'm a first-timer planning for HB. For me, the anxiety I would experience in a hospital setting is much greater than concerns about homebirth. Someone mentioned Ina May's Sphincter Law concept - this really sums it up for me! I need to feel safe, protected, uninhibited, and surrounded only by those people I trust the most in order to feel confident about giving birth. I want to avoid any conflict with providers and I don't want to have to develop elaborate plans to defend myself from hospital protocols we don't need or agree with. We have done a lot of medical and legal research about birth and HB and we feel great about this choice. There are no freestanding birth centers in our state. We are actually birthing at my family's home, which is not far away and much bigger than our place.

The local hospital is less than 5 minutes away and our MW has had good experiences transporting there and would be able to stay with us if we did transport. This was probably the thing that made my husband really feel 100% about going for HB. After researching all the potential HB providers near us, we interviewed the HB CNM in our area who seemed to have the most experience and most gushing reviews, and we were so happy with her we hired her on the spot.

Anyone undecided about waterbirth? We will have a tub but feel like I can't predict how I will use it, whether for labor, delivery or both. It seems like such a spontaneous thing I will just go with what seems right at the time.

We will have a tub but feel like I can't predict how I will use it, whether for labor, delivery or both. It seems like such a spontaneous thing I will just go with what seems right at the time.

We had a tub with DS, but yes, it ws a bit unpredictable how I was going to use it. I eneded up laboring in it and wanted to birth in it, but I had a lip of a cervix @10cm so my MW had me get out to start pushing. She then gave me the option of getting back in the tub but I opted for the birthing stool instead. I'd love to birth in the tub this time around though.

Birth Doula and Owner of an online natural baby boutique. Aspiring to be a Midwife.

Planning my 3rd home birth for my 5th baby. My first and second were run of the mill hospital births complete with the epidural. Then I did a complete 180 and had number 3 at home with a midwife, and absolutely LOVED it. So number four was another home birth, and now number 5 is another planned home birth as well. I can't wait :)

Married to Tom since 2001, mom to 4 boys and our first girl born Feb. 19, 2012!

I have had four natural births (vag, no meds,etc) at hospitals. The first 2 were with a midwife in another state. Then I had an emergency c-section based on my DD turning breech and my doc rushing things. So, three scheduled c-sections followed that one. I was given no other options. In a small town community hospital :(

This is baby number 9 for me. I am now in OK and have no one. I have visited a MW in OKC and she was a nasty bitty. That was at 6 weeks along. Then I had insurance issues that they just got straightened out. So, yesterday I saw an OB/GYN in Tulsa....he can't deliver me VBA4C at Saint Francis. I am now completely lost and alone. I am not going to be pushed into just scheduling a c-section. So.....here we are! We have no support, no friends, and no family here in Oklahoma. We are almost into Kansas, so by the North Central border/state line. We will go unassisted if necessary though I would LOVE to have someone close enough who has BTDT to support us. At home is where we'll be :)

I wish each of us good luck!! Oh, I'm almost 18 weeks along in case you were wondering :)

Oh, man! I can't imagine what you must be going through! I sure hope you find a network of like-minded mommas out there! And soon! How does one go about preparing for an unassisted birth? The idea has some appeal (my hubby likes the financial aspect ) but I don't feel confident enough to manage my own birth and my hubby is not exactly in a position to do that much learning on top of his master's degree workload...

I have had four natural births (vag, no meds,etc) at hospitals. The first 2 were with a midwife in another state. Then I had an emergency c-section based on my DD turning breech and my doc rushing things. So, three scheduled c-sections followed that one. I was given no other options. In a small town community hospital :(

This is baby number 9 for me. I am now in OK and have no one. I have visited a MW in OKC and she was a nasty bitty. That was at 6 weeks along. Then I had insurance issues that they just got straightened out. So, yesterday I saw an OB/GYN in Tulsa....he can't deliver me VBA4C at Saint Francis. I am now completely lost and alone. I am not going to be pushed into just scheduling a c-section. So.....here we are! We have no support, no friends, and no family here in Oklahoma. We are almost into Kansas, so by the North Central border/state line. We will go unassisted if necessary though I would LOVE to have someone close enough who has BTDT to support us. At home is where we'll be :)

I wish each of us good luck!! Oh, I'm almost 18 weeks along in case you were wondering :)

After the 3rd c-section, did you deliver 3 times naturally at hosp? How did those turn out? It sounds like you are feeling ok about the birthing (safety, etc) at home. Also sounds like you are personally wanting help. I sure do hope you find the support you need. I can only imagine how it must be to feel that you are without an option. It's suggested in Pushed, that if you need a mw and she's not listed all you have to do is continue to ask people and they'll get you to her. (not suggested by the book, but suggested to a mother whose story is within the book). Can you search while still making OB checkups?

I'm a FTM planning on a home birth! I found an amazing midwife, through a referral, and even my husband adores her! I AM seeing an OB as a back up, because I'm new to the area and if something was to happen, that makes me NOT a candidate for HB, I don't want to be late term looking for a doctor.

However. My OB is a Midwife Doctor, he was totally a midwife in a past life. My OB/GYN in Dallas referred me to him. His CNM is a self proclaimed Doctor Midwife, and is good friends with him, but based on what I'm wanting from my birth, thought he'd be a good fit.

So far friends and family have been much more accepting that I thought they would be, especially when they realize this was not a spur of the moment, "oh this looks fun" thing I'm shooting for. My mom, a nurse, was a little iffy, but even now is defending my decision to her nurse friends, because she knows I've done my homework, and then some.

I would LOVE a homebirth, but I live and work at a university campus - we live in an apartment in an undergraduate dorm with a bunch of 18 year old guys above us and very thin walls :) NOT the most conducive environment for a homebirth!

So, I am VERY grateful a natural birth center opened in my town about a year ago - DH feels better because it is less than a mile from the hospital, and I see it as a homebirth just not in my own home. I really wanted a birth center/homebirth with dd, but we were also living on campus at the time and the closest birth center was 2 hours away. I had to take a student to the hospital the other day and had an awful, awful experience that made me SOOOO happy I will not be giving birth there.

Loving wife to DH and To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.mama to DD (11/08) and DS (2/12) and expecting another little boy (4/15)

So I just had my first anti-homebirth converstation with my step-mom tonight. Totally didn't see it coming! I love my step-mom and she didn't say anything when it first came up so I wasn't expecting it tonight and I wasn't prepared as well as I could've been.

It was the usual, "No risk is worth trying a homebirth" and "You don't have the same kind of equipment at home as they do in a hospital if you need it". Even got the "I know a baby who was born at home (with problems) and died in transit to hospital" story. She firmly believes two out of her three births were saved by her being in hospital. She said she was in labour for 4 days with the first, needed a catheter, an IV, probably should've had a c-section if the doc had been more on the ball. I didn't say much (mostly because I hate to armchair quarterback) but couldn't help but wonder how many of the interventions - never mind the 4-day labour- was DUE to being in the hospital.

Luckily, everyone else there (DH, my dad & brother) are on board with the idea (or at least, my dad didn't say aything one way or the other) so I let her get her concerns off her chest, reassured her we'd done our research and that our midwife is very well trained and hopefully that's the end of it.

I'm toying with giving her some articles on the subject, but I don't feel like I really need to convince her as she's been pretty great thus far at respecting our choices and don't want to make it seem like it's even up for debate. Just wish I'd been more prepared for the conversation!

curiouscanadian - I am just waiting to have this convo with DH's family. My family is a little scared of the subject (with the exception of my mom who is totally on board). They just think I am crazy, but a lot of them were induced with epidurals and took no time to prepare their bodies, so they had really bad experiences and think WITHOUT the docs and meds it would have been worse... right.

I think what totally convinced me to do it at home was my DH's support. He spent his whole childhood watching his mom (who had a very rare disease) go in and out of hospitals. Finally through a medication screw up and crappy monitoring of her after a major operation, she passed away suddenly at home when DH was 16 (and on his way home from school no less). I don't think he could trust doctors after that.

When the idea of getting pregnant came up we were both worried about what we were going to do. Finally I looked into homebirths (2 years BEFORE getting pregnant!) and we decided that was for us. We found a great CNM who has worked with our local hospital in case of a transport and she has been diligently helping me battle several infections homeopathically so we can avoid all meds completely.

I am really excited about starting out with baby #1 at home! I think it will just mesh perfectly with DH's and my current lifestyle of living naturally and comfortably!

Pagan mama, married to DH since 10/27/09. Had a wonderful with baby D in 2012!

Thanks for the encouragement for a first time home birth and the mention of the documentaries.

Babies in bloom--I liked both business being born and Pregnant in America. How sad though that I'm beginning to dream of being able to have an American style hospital birth because bad as they are they are way better than a hospital birth in my country.

Homebirth looks very probable unless I find an a truly amazing doctor-- which seems unlikely at this point.

I have talked to a different midwife; I am frightened because the midwife has only attended some 30 births and it's all very low tech-- no pitocin if you hemorrhage just herbs, not sure about fetal heart monitoring capabilities. But I live really close to two good hospitals so I am hopeful that in an emergency I could make it in time.

Do I trust the midwife... hmm not completely... but I trust her much more than the doctors that I have seen who all seem completely hostile to the idea of natural childbirth. My husband is coming around to the idea of using this midwife--although he is more concerned than I am about the potential for a real emergency, he too is appalled by the attitudes of the doctors here. My family is being very neutral about the whole thing. And his family is being supportive our decision--with the exception of his aunt (who for a variety of reasons is best thought of as my de facto mother in law). She is pretty horrified by the idea of homebirth but is very respectful about it.

This midwife insists that a traditional doctor monitor your pregnancy so that if there is an emergency there are no problems being admitted to the hospital.

The real pain about choosing to give birth this way is that I feel like I have to research everything. I have read The Thinking Woman's Guide To Birth and strongly recommend it; but it is definitely biased towards homebirth so I don't feel like I can completely rely on it. Some parts I am in complete agreement, others I am not sure. I know I want to believe everything she says because doing so supports the kind of birth I want. But I still try to use my own research to back up everything I want and somethings are inconclusive. Perhaps if I could take the time to analyze all the studies to see their methodology I would come to more certain conclusions-- but I barely have time for the research I am doing now. Frankly, its exhausting. But with intervention happy doctors on one side and an inexperienced not particularly well-read midwife on the other hand; I feel like all the decisions are squarely on my shoulders. (I guess they always are, but normally you trust your midwife/doctor to have read and seen enough situations first hand that s/he can give you an educated opinion.)

So I see my doctor (who I don't trust at all-- unless I need a cesarean--then I think he would be perfect) he doesn't know I'm planning a home birth. We try to negotiate birthing procedures--just in case. He scares me by insisting for example that the only safe way to give birth is lying down with feet in stirrups and tells me that it is the only way he will attend the birth--) I then go home and note that of the first 100 articles in google scholar 98 espouse signficant benefits in not giving birth lying down and two find that the results are similar but that no article suggests that lying down on your back gives better outcomes with an exception of a slight decrease in hemoraging. But information on inducing post-date babies seems less clear cut. I have no idea whether to go with the doctors recommendation for induction past 41 weeks or the midwives suggestion that you can go way past 42 weeks. So back to researching I go...

We are planning a HBAC waterbirth with a midwife pair (CNM and CPM). Both are older and wiser and more experienced then I; that's part of why I chose them. Last time I found a midwife/medwife practice that was hospital based. The medwife panicked unnecessarily and we ended up with the OB and a c/s. Everything went "right" and I healed great, baby never left, hubby was with us all the way, Doc was great, etc. And I still don't want to feel forced into a premature c/s again. (The practice was 3 midwives-- I trusted 2 and felt good about their practice, but drew the third as the on-call the day I went into labor--wouldn't you know!).

So my home midwives have tons of experience in and out of the hospital, one trained with Ina May. And most importantly to me, they clearly trust the process, they trust me and my body, and they are SO supportive. I actually crave going to see them for my appointments knowing it is like visiting with dear aunties over tea.

And I have (at their suggestion) an appointment with a pro-HB/natural birth/waterbirth OB doc who is 25 miles away, to get on his radar (and caseload) in case we need to transfer to hospital for any non-emergent reason. If it becomes and emergency, I have a fabulous hospital and children's hospital a mile away and it will be 911 and a short ride in a truck with a crew. My midwives have transferred to close hospital and been well received before, so I'm feeling okay about it if we need it.

I feel great about all of this. I work in a high-risk L&D hospital, and I'm even telling my staff people that I'm planning a HB. The part I am dreading is the conversation with my MIL. I expect she will be afraid and horrified and pull out all the stops. Last week she hinted that we should choose the hospital close to her so she could easily visit, and I gently reminded her we have a great hospital just a mile away. I know-- I totally chickened out about telling her. I expect we'll have to have that conversation soon, since she is in town and will be expecting to care for our 3 year old when birth-day arrives. But I won't want her at the birth, and I do want my 3 year old to have the option, so we're making other arrangements for her to have an auntie/friend who can tend her.

I'd love to hear how others have handled family who disagree. It won't change my mind by any stretch. And I know no amount of education or articles or reassurance will likely change MIL's fear. Thoughts?